We have another Eason Jordan incident. As Bryan Preston notes, the press should be even more sensitive to such charges in light of the recent Newsweek fiasco, but they seem to remain clueless.
Rewriting History
The folks at ABC News apparently need to go back and read their history books. They seem to fantasize that it was Republicans who blocked the Civil Rights Act. In a piece on the current filibuster debate, they write the following, titled “Historical Perspective”:
The filibuster has been used historically by the minority party, which can’t win with a vote count. Democrats have opposed the filibuster before
Short Memories
Ann Coulter reminds us of some Michael Isikoff stories from the past that Newsweek was in no hurry to run:
…apparently it’s possible for Michael Isikoff to have a story that actually is true, but for his editors not to run it.
Why no pause for reflection when Isikoff had a story about American interrogators at Guantanamo flushing the Quran down the toilet? Why not sit on this story for, say, even half as long as NBC News sat on Lisa Meyers’ highly credible account of Bill Clinton raping Juanita Broaddrick?
Newsweek seems to have very different responses to the same reporter’s scoops. Who’s deciding which of Isikoff’s stories to run and which to hold? I note that the ones that Matt Drudge runs have turned out to be more accurate
Pop Some Corn
Howard Dean’s going to be on Meet The Press this Sunday.
At The Crossroads
Clark Lindsey has a good rundown of yesterday’s meeting in Washington on space policy.
A couple of strong impressions came through. Firstly, the end of the Shuttle in 2010 is now taken for granted by everyone. Weldon wants NASA to assign a manager full-time to monitor the transition so that the community disruptions as happened after the end of the Apollo program don’t hit the KSC area again.
I also noticed a widespread awareness of the existence of an entrepreneurial space industry and that it is becoming a force to reckon with.
An End To Privacy?
It’s not here yet, but it’s definitely on the way:
Police found a so-called “skirt cam” under a subway grate at 88th Street and Lexington Avenue Tuesday afternoon after a woman called police saying she had noticed suspicious wires protruding from the grate as she passed by.
Emphasis yours truly.
Once Wifi is ubiquitous, there will be no “suspicious wires” to betray the location of a camera, and cameras will continue to get smaller and more power efficient (though there is a physical limit on how small the lense can get). Consider this a glimpse not just of womens’ undergarments (assuming they’re wearing same), but of the future.
More Hollywood Nitwittery
George, one of your progenitors in Hollywood once said, “If you want to send a message, use Western Union.”
”The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we’re doing in Iraq now are unbelievable.
Yes, I’d say unbelievable is exactly the right word.
”On the personal level it was how does a good person turn into a bad person, and part of the observation of that is that most bad people think they are good people, they are doing it for the right reasons,” he added.
Of course, most lousy directors and hackneyed script writers think they’re brilliant, profound and insightful.
I’ll probably go see the movie, but only for the special effects, which is all that Lucas was ever really any good at.
Depolarize Lunar Exploration
In the latest issue of Moon Miners’ Manifesto and Ad Astra Peter Kokh makes the point in “Perfect Spot Found for Moonbase?” that R&D for living everywhere except the poles would open up a lot more of the Moon to utilization especially the mare/highland “coastline”. Good point! But let’s do both. Let’s colonize the easiest place to colonize too.
He did say that if the government puts a base at the pole that the rest of the Moon might never get developed. This is an error. In 500 years of 2% growth, the average worker will be able to fund their own Elon Musk-style orbital space program 5 times over with one year’s income. See a comical look into the future here.
“Vancouver, Vancouver, This Is It!”
Speaking of natural disasters, it’s been a quarter of a century since Mount St. Helens blew. Just a little reminder that our single homeworld isn’t always the safest place to be, and a drop in the bucket compared to what would happen if Yellowstone explodes again.
“Vancouver, Vancouver, This Is It!”
Speaking of natural disasters, it’s been a quarter of a century since Mount St. Helens blew. Just a little reminder that our single homeworld isn’t always the safest place to be, and a drop in the bucket compared to what would happen if Yellowstone explodes again.